Colonial Life
美音、自然拼读、分级阅读与词汇复习
You begin the day by washing up in the washbasin and getting dressed.
你从那天开始 在洗浴盆里洗个澡 穿好衣服
The water isn’t hot unless your mother or father has already boiled some.
水不是热的,
Then you light a lantern and walk outside to gather wood from the woodpile.
然后点起一盏灯,走出外面去从木上取出木头来.
This is your first chore of the day.
这是你今天的第一个工作
Step back more than three hundred years to when life was much different.
退后三百余年,当生平相去甚远.
Imagine a time before the United States was a country.
想象一下在美国成为一个国家之前的一段时期。
It is a period known as the colonial times.
这是一个被称为殖民时代的时期。
It is a cold morning.
这是一个寒冷的早晨。
You wake up before the sun rises.
你醒来前太阳升起。
You have much work to do.
你还有很多工作要做。
Only some lucky children get to go to school.
只有幸运的孩子才能上学
Most kids spend their days working beside their parents.
大部分孩子白天都在父母身边工作
If you are a girl, you probably have to help your mother cook, gather eggs from the chickens, or wash the laundry— by hand!
如果你是女孩,你可能必须帮助你的母亲做饭,从鸡中取出鸡蛋,或者用手去洗衣服!
You might also have to churn the butter.
你也许还要烧黄油
That means that you sit over a large wooden bucket full of cream.
这意味着你坐在一个大木桶上 满是奶油。
You grab a long, funn y-shaped stick and gently move it up and down in the bucket.
你拿起一根长长的Funn Y形的棍子,并轻轻地在桶中上下移动.
This churns the cream until it slowly turns to butter.
奶油要慢慢变成黄油
The butter tastes good, but it takes many hours to make.
黄油味道不错,但需要很多小时才能制得.
Once you make it, you are not able to keep it for long.
一旦你做到了,你就不能把它保存很久。
You see, there are no refrigerators in colonial days.
殖民地时代没有冰箱
You have to chill things in a stream— if you live near one.
你必须要在溪流中冷却一些东西——如果你住在附近的话。
After you put the wood in the fireplace, a fire is lit to warm the house.
在你把木头放入壁炉后,会点起一盏火来取暖房屋.
Your mother uses the fire to cook breakfast.
你妈妈用火煮早餐
You soon sit down to a big breakfast.
你快坐下来吃个大早餐了
You need it because you have a day of hard work ahead of you.
你需要它是因为你还有一天的辛勤工作
If you are a boy, you might have to work on the farm.
如果你是一个男孩,你可能不得不 在农场工作。
You plant seeds and till soil with a plow pulled by oxen.
你种出种子,然后用牛拉起的犁耕到地上
You might repair the barn, milk the cows, or chop down trees for wood.
你可以修谷仓 给牛挤奶 或者砍树取木头
Some days, you might help to build a new neighbor’s house or even work in the local mill.
有些时候,你可能会帮助建造新邻居的房子,甚至在当地的磨坊工作。
You have to work many hours both in the cold of winter and in the heat of summer.
在冬天的寒冷和夏季的炎热中,你必须工作许多小时。
There is no air conditioning in the summer.
夏天没有空调。
In the winter, you have only a fireplace to keep warm.
在冬天,你只有一个壁炉来保暖.
You might come from a well-off family and attend school in a small, one-room schoolhouse.
你可能来自一个富裕的家庭 在一间小的一室的学校上学
The classroom is filled with children of every age.
教室里充斥着每个年龄的孩子.
One teacher has to teach all of the children.
一师得教一切子.
The subjects that you study are similar to what students learn in school today— math, reading, and writing.
你所学习的科目与学生今天在学校学习的科目相似——数学、阅读和写作。
You do not study science.
你不学习科学。
If you don’t go to school, you probably don’t read.
如果你不上学,
So reading a good book is not something you do for fun.
所以读一本好书不是你为好玩而做的
Since people live far apart from each other, you don’t have friends nearby.
因为人们生活相去甚远,
If you want to play with your friends, you don’t have a bicycle to ride to their houses.
如果你想和朋友玩的话,
Your parents don’t have a car to take you, either.
你父母也没有车送你。
You have to ride a horse or walk a mile or more.
你必须骑一匹马或走一英里或多。
But most families are large.
但大多数家庭都很大.
You probably have many brothers and sisters to play with.
你可能有很多兄弟姐妹要玩。
You may be wondering if you have time for fun.
你可能想知道你有没有时间玩玩
The truth is that you spend most of your time working.
事实是你大部分时间都在工作
In colonial days, there are no televisions to watch and no video games to play.
在殖民时代,没有电视可以观看,也没有电子游戏可以播放.
You don’t even have electricity.
你甚至连电都没有。
Life in colonial times was much different from life today.
殖民时代的生活与今天的生活大相径庭.
It was a much harder life.
生活很艰难
People did not live long because there were no medicines or hospitals.
人们没有长寿,因为没有药品或医院。
But colonial life was also good in many ways.
但殖民生活在许多方面也是好的。
The air and water were much cleaner.
空气和水都比较干净。
There was not much traffic or noise.
没有太多的交通和噪音。
Do you think you would like to have lived then?
你觉得你想住在那里吗?
On Sundays, children go to church with their families.
星期天,孩子们和家人去教堂.
This is a good day to play with your friends who also go to church.
今天是和你那些也去教堂的朋友玩的好日子
You might have picnics with other families in the afternoon.
你下午可能会和家人一起野餐